(500) DAYS OF SUMMER (Dir. Marc Webb)
(500) Days is one of those quintessentially hipster, offbeat films that the last few years have spawned, with cute, romantic love scenes, oddball idiosyncrasies, record players and, more often than not, Zooey Deschanel. Here, the ultimate indie gal Deschanel is paired with Joseph Gordon-Levitt (yeah, Inception), which is a killer combination.

Concept-wise, (500) Days is brilliant. The story, the idea - of a romance being told from its end, with the viewer forever aware that it's not going to last, and how close to the end we are - is great. Original, hell, I don't know, but it's fun to watch - especially with the 500-day counter guiding us through the couple's relationship. The concept is brilliant, but the execution? Well, it's lacking something. And the something is restraint. Like many other cute-love films, this one can get so caught up in itself that it's hard to see a way out to the real world. Deschanel, though spot-on casting, is frustrating to watch. Perhaps it's her character, but perhaps it's her. From seeing her in other films, I suspect the latter. The film almost feels like Gordon-Levitt being pulled further and further into the deadly spirals of Deschanel's complexities and insecurities, somehow being labelled a 'romance'. But, as the film's concept informs from the start, he gets out. Don't fret.

Sure, a film like (500) Days is going to be pretentious. It's got brackets in its title, for god's sake. But I can't resist it. Maybe it's the soundtrack, maybe the soft-and-sweet direction, maybe the hipster appeal, or maybe just Zooey Deschanel - the film delivers for me. I just only wish Deschanel didn't play her part with such unbearably offbeat charm, and Gordon-Levitt didn't play his so well. Ignore some corny scripts and most/all of Zooey Deschanel's lines, and (500) Days of Summer is the perfect glorified hipster wank.

 ★★☆☆☆